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Try Lolita Lempicka first

I have this in the 50ml size, which I got from Boots online when they had a special offer on perfumes online, which made it about £50 for £50ml. I got it about three months ago.

It's quite different to other Guerlain perfumes I've worn and tried. This one is very much a young perfume, and would probably particularly appeal to women in their twenties. It's sweet and fruity, but is more complex than other similar sweet perfumes. The liquorice note is particularly prominent, and it's a note I really like as I think it means it smells a bit different to other perfumes. However, there is a clear similarity to Lolita Lempicka EDP, which I also really like. If you're not a liquorice obsessive, you may find if you have Lolita Lempicka (which is considerably cheaper) you don't need this one too.

I find La Petite Robe Noire relatively long lasting, and the silage is ok but not really strong.

I still like this perfume after several months of use, however I don't think I would particularly go out of my way to repurchase it as Lolita Lempicka is so similar, but much more affordable.

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I would probably have expected more for the price

I got sent a small spray bottle of the Guerlain La Petite Robe Noire (translated as 'the little black dress') through the post, after applying for a sample on the Boots website. I was thrilled when I got this as it is the first Guerlain product I have tried.

Although only in a small sample size, the packaging was beautiful - the design of the card and the bottle looked really luxurious and expensive. The full sized bottle is also really nice - it's very vintage looking with tones of purple and a beautiful glass lid. The front of the bottle is decorated with the silhouette of a black dress - it looks very French and pretty and is definitely the sort of bottle I would be attracted to if I saw it on the shelf in a shop.

The perfume is described as being 'a creation embroidered with the most beautiful 'black' notes in perfumery: black cherry, black rose, patchouli and smoked tea'. I'm not really sure if I would have chosen the perfume based on that description, but I do think black cherry and black rose sound like quite a nice combination, so I wasn't completely put off.

When I first sprayed this, the first thing that hit me was the scent of patchouli. I am really not keen on patchouli I can usually bear it if it's mixed in with woody scents as a base note, but in this perfume it was a little too prominent and sharp for my tastes. As well as patchouli I feel the black cherry scent comes across quite strongly. I do generally like the scent of black cherry, but it is of course quite bitter and the bitterness of the cherry combined with the sharp tones of the patchouli was not really to my taste.

As the fragrance settles I think the floral notes of the black rose seem to come out more, but there is also a slight fruitiness which lifts the scent a little. I think that the scent is at its best around twenty minutes or so after application when the sharpness has worn off and these floral/fruity notes have come out. Although the official description mentions smoked tea, to me the scent has an undertone of plain black tea the whole time it is on the skin.

I think this is quite an unusual scent, I can't think of any other fragrance to compare it to and I can't imagine it will be to everyone's taste. I usually go for lighter, sweeter fragrances, but with this being a tad heavier, I have been wearing it throughout the colder weather, as it has quite a warming feel to it. I'm struggling to think of an age range for this scent, I reckon I'll go with 25 upwards, it might be a bit on the heavy side for anyone younger.

The fragrance is quite strong and lasts quite well. If I apply in the morning, I can still smell it when I leave work several hours later. My small sample size has lasted me ages and ages as one spray is more than enough per use.

Being Guerlain, this perfume is not cheap. The following prices are taken from the John Lewis website, but seem similar depending on where you shop.

30ml - £4250ml - £60100ml - £86

Overall, I'm finding it really difficult to decide if I would recommend this perfume or not. I would definitely say it is one you have to try before you buy. My husband loves this and always compliments me on it, but I think I could probably take it or leave it (most likely leave it at those prices!). I really dislike the opening notes of patchouli in this scent, but it is much nicer once it's been on the skin for a while and the sharpness has worn off. I think that I will settle in the middle and give this a very average 3 out of 5 stars.

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Very poor effort given the price

Guerlain products are not cheap and while at £40 ish for a 30ml bottle this is not exactly the most expensive perfume on the market neither is it cheaop and I must say in my opinion, given the rather disappointing results, it is certainly not worth the money.

The one thing Guerlain generally always get right is the packaging and that is certainly the case with this product. There is an elegance and sense of style with this product characterised by the little black number that provides the products name and the image on the bottle which has a great inverted heart shaped plastic stopper with a small ribbon around it and nice detail on the bottle edges and corners.

The contents inside the bottle are a very light black currant / plum colour and this colour reflects the fact that black cherry and bergamot are two of the top notes in this fragrance, the base notes are black tea, patchouli and something called tonka beans while the middle notes are a nutty almond and black rose.

What you get in terms of fragrance is a slightly sweet smell that does not have very much staying power, there is a hint of vanilla which I did not expect as there is no mention of vanilla in the note information. I could certainly detect the cherry fragrance in it however I did not particularly take to it, it is a little too sweet for my liking, the nutty almond fragrance did counter this a little but only initially as that seemed to fade quite quickly.

While not exactly a big fan of the smell I was even less pleased to see that after a couple of hours it was hardly noticeable which was very disappointing given the cost of this perfume. I would expect it to have lasted a lot longer. It is hard to know how to describe this fragrance as it does not really have much staying power, for me it is a day scent rather than one I would wear out of an evening however it lacks the staying power and constantly needs topping up.

Certainly not a fragrance I will be recommending as the only real positive is the nice design of the bottle.

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Definately one for a 20 something

I am a self confessed perfume addict and order samples of just about every new fragrance that is released.. La petite noire is french and translates as little black dress. Implying that this is a fragrance that is a classic elegant fragrance which every woman should own.

Before ordering a sample i watched the advertisement, i loved the artistic message of the advert, that a woman who can do anything and have anyone (ok so most fragrance adverts have this message but this was far more fun). I loved how the colours of the perfume bottle were reflected throughout, black and white with splashes of pale pink merged in. The advert was clearly aimed at a more youthful audience which i found suprising as guerlain fragrances are usually aimed at the more mature woman.

AppearanceThe sample came in a small pink 1ml spray bottle, the text in an elegant black font. This was attached to a fragrance card with the image of the little black dress. The full sized fragrance bottle has the same shape as some of the original guerlain fragrances such as; l'heure bleue (1912) and mitsouko (1919). It seems that although the guerlain family are no longer a part of creating the fragrances, the brand is keen to reflect the history of guerlain. The bottle is slightly pink but fades into black towards the bottom of the bottle. The little black dress is featured on the front with the words la petite robe noire inscribed in white.

NotesTop Notes: Bergamot, Black Cherry, Almond, Berries

Heart Notes: Bulgarian Rose, Turkish Rose Absolute

Base Notes: Liquorice, Patchouli, Black Lapsang Tea Leaves

MY THOUGHTS I sprayed the fragrance on myself and a friend as perfumes can often smell differently on other people. We smelt the fragrance throughout the day and noted the scents.

The first scent that i picked up on was incredibly floral but sweet. It has a very strong smell and at first i really did not like it, it seemed that the notes just did not work well together. Soon after i could smell the black cherry and turkish rose, this was present almost all day and had a gorgeous elegant smell that had a slight sweetness without being sickly sweet.

The base notes aren't particularly easy to pick out at any point, liquorice can be smelt very slightly but not a hint of patchouli of tea leaves. I found that this fragrance lasted a very long time, i could actually still smell it faintly the next day (it then smelt more floral but not in an old lady perfume way).

This fragrance is definately one for a younger audience, perhaps for someone who is not longer in their teens but in their 20's. It does not have the same sickly sweet scent that most teen fragrances have. If you are a fan of other guerlain fragrances then this is probably not one for you.

I loved this fragrance and intend to buy a fullsized bottle. The fragrances come in a 30ml,50ml and 100ml size and can be purchased from around £35-£70

This product is also available in an eau de toilette spray, shower gel and a body lotion

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Not one I would choose to buy as it is too strongly cherryade smelling

'La Petite Robe Noir' eau du Parfum by Guerlain

MY GUILTY SECRETI just love getting free stuff to try and as a result I apply for every freebie going and most weeks I get at least one small gift in my mail box. It is like a little Christmas tree surprise each week and most times I have to do nothing except try it and enjoy it. Sometimes I am asked to write a review and others want a bit more input but I enjoy it and get to try lots of new things.

WHY DID YOU BUY THIS?This small sample, 1 ml in a tiny spray comes in a cute pale, old fashioned pink with a sort of French chic style picture of a black dress and the name of the perfume in fancy writing. This came from Boots as I am a member of their Boots.com product testing panel. They send me samples of products to try in return for writing a pretty short review on their website.

WHAT GUEULAIN SAY ABOUT THIS SCENT"I am absolutely essential and utterly irresistible. I have met with the greatest actresses and charmed the most glamorous of men. I am the chic, elegant and very seductive, perfumed creation by Guerlain. I am La Petite Robe Noire Eau de Parfum. My scent is Fresh, enchanting and delicious....Cheeky and captivating....I am the warm spark beneath the sweetness."

Okay so that sounds very promising. An air of mystery and elegance with classic chic and glamour thrown in. I was really looking forward to trying this.

LA ROBE NOIR PACKAGE

Means of course 'little black dress' which can imply that outfit which can take you anywhere and also at the same time implies style and glamour. The packaging is elegant and French chic style. The bottle is clear glass and sort of square with the little black dress on the front; the top corners have a sort of rounded decorative corner.

The bottle is a replica of the classical bottles of Guerlain . The little black dress is slightly different as Guerlain has been altered it each time the scent has been rebranded and released which has been three times so far., in 2009, 2011 and now again in 2012. I am not sure what they have changed apart from the packaging as i have never tried it before this.

The lid is large and like a diamond it is made of plastic looks like clear glass Around the lid base is a little piece of ribbon around the base with 'Guerlain' printed on it. I can't say it is the most impressive bottle Ii have ever seen but it is also far from being the most boring so an average sort of looking bottle. Being clear you can see the pink, almost blackcurrant diluted cordial coloured perfume through the bottle so you would know how much you have left. This also means that it would be easily damaged by light so I would keep it in its box or in a dark place so that it didn't get spoiled by the light and lose its fragrance.

WHERE TO BUY AND HOW MUCH La Petite Robe Noir is available as 30ml for £42, 50ml for £60 and a gift set for £42 which has 75 ml body lotion and 30ml eau de parfum so that seems a pretty good deal. These can be bought from Boots stores or on line and very probably other stores selling good perfumes.

MY THOUGHTSI sprayed this on a few days ago and spent the day sniffing and thinking about it and what it smelled like and then I tried again today.

The first scent that I get is sweet almond like powdery cherry. It is pretty strong and gives a real punch of cherry sweetness with powdery vanillary undertones. This is in no way a male scent, it is feminine and to me very girly very sweet and fruity.

I would say this is probably for someone younger than I am as I find it a bit too sweet and sugary. It reminds me of cherry liqueur at first sniff but as though you are also wearing a talc while sniffing it or someone has wafted talc around while you are drinking cherry liquor.

After about ten minutes the scent does calm down and the powdery scent remains with a hint of tonka and vanilla . It sort of smells like you have walked into a sweet shop with that combination of fruity and caramel like smells that you get in an old fashioned sweet shop.

The deeper heart notes never really materialise for me as the scent fades very quickly. I have read a number of reviews which say this lasts really well and has excellent sillage. Sorry but it doesn't on me, after an hour or so I am struggling to smell anything much at all. I am not sure whether the powerful initial notes hit my nose so strongly that after that I can't smell anything. After about ten minutes I begin to detect a hint of liquorice which is very pleasant but subtle. It is still very sweet, i am still in the sweet shop here.

Others have talked about how classical this is and how sophisticated but really I am struggling as to me it smells very young and one that teens would like. It isn't my idea of sophisticated at all. To me it smelled rather synthetic and as though it was trying to hard and not quite getting it right.

After about an hour the rose begins to sneak out, still sweet but not sweet shop sickly sweet a more floral note creeps in to blend with the rather lighter bergamot. These two flit back and forth with the powdery notes for me.

I am sorry but this will not be one i will be rushing to buy. It smells too much like a mix of sweet shop and fruit shop for me to take to. I really feel it is aimed at the younger audience and I can't believe all the people saying how long it lasts on their skin as it disappeared after four hours leaving barely a hint on my wrists.

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A long lasting scent that reminds me of old ladies

=== The Product ===

La Petite Robe Noire (or Little Black Dress for those who don't speak French) is the latest fragrance offering from Guerlain. Available in all the usual places; department stores, perfume stores and perfume counters, it's current prices in Boots are £42 for 30ml and £60 for 50ml.

=== How I Came to Own It ===

I am lucky enough to be a member of the Boots.com product testing panel, which allows me to try out new products, often before they go on general sale, in return for leaving a review on their website. This was just one of a few fragrances I've recently received and as perfume isn't something I tend to buy often I was looking forward to trying it out.

=== What Guerlain Say ===

"I am absolutely essential and utterly irresistible. I have met with the greatest actresses and charmed the most glamorous of men. I am the chic, elegant and very seductive, perfumed creation by Guerlain. I am La Petite Robe Noire Eau de Parfum. My scent is Fresh, enchanting and delicious....Cheeky and captivating....I am the warm spark beneath the sweetness."

=== The Bottle ===

As you should be able to see from the picture the bottle is made of glass which starts off black at the bottom and fades through to completely clear at the top, passing through a lovely blackberry shade and powder pink in between. On the back of the bottle is a printed picture of a little black dress and on the front 'La petite Robe noire' in white. The lid is made of plastic but is made to look like glass, which it does, and has a little piece of ribbon around the base with 'Guerlain' printed on it. The lid and the top of the bottle have a kind of scrollwork design that reminds me of decorative wrought iron or stone-work.

If I'm honest this is not a bottle that I would have taken a second look at had I seen it displayed. It's not particularly eye-catching or overly interesting, but at the same time it is very different to any I remember seeing before, so rather unique I believe. Although it's not one that would have caught my eye in a shop I actually do really like the bottle. It's classy without being boring and the glass is lovely and heavy making it feel as high quality as it looks. It's a shame the lid isn't also made of glass as this does detract slightly from the quality feel, but overall I do think it reflects the designer price tag.

Reading black cherry in the top notes I was expecting to be hit by quite a rich fruity fragrance so the first time I used this I was extremely surprised to find that the initial scent I got was a smoky one. It was an extremely familiar scent which I couldn't quite place for a long time, but I eventually realised it was exactly like the very unique burning smell that comes from burning joss sticks, which is somewhat bizarre. I could also tell straight away that this was going to be one of those perfumes that would give me a headache after a while, as it's strong and heady with a very chemical feel to it.

This scent is a bit of an anomaly for me as the smokiness quite overwhelms the rest of the scent and I struggle to pick out any of the specific notes within it unless I sniff the actual area of skin I applied it to. However, doing this I am able to detect the deep fruity tang of the black cherry, which I find truly delectable. This wears off within a few minutes, giving way to the deeply floral heart of black rose, with only a slight hint of almond lurking underneath.

Again it's only a few minutes before the heart notes fade and the base notes begin to come through. Strangely though, I find the black cherry seems to make a reappearance along with the base notes, but on a much more subtle level, so perhaps it had actually only been masked by the floral heart rather than having faded. It is here that the scent becomes again more musky and smoky, the black tea being very apparent. I have no idea what part of this scent Guerlain were smelling when they decided to describe it as fresh, as there's nothing fresh about it.

The problem I have with this scent is that although I can detect the different notes when sniffing the fragrance on my arm where I have applied it, the scent that surrounds me, the one that lasts, and the one that lingers all day in my bedroom, is still the initial smoky one. So, unless I spend my whole time sniffing my arm, I'm not getting the true fragrance, and this is not an issue I've ever had before.

=== My Opinion ===

Although the scent I can pick up when sniffing this on my arm is actually quite a nice one, the overall scent is very smoky and musky, and to be perfectly honest reminds me of old ladies. I would not recommend it to young women at all as it simply doesn't suit. It's the type of scent that I expect to find wafting from middle-aged women who don't seem to realise that their perfume is, far from being pleasant or sophisticated, choking everyone in the vicinity. I have actually received several compliments on this scent on the few times I've worn it, all from women who looked at least 50, confirming my thoughts exactly. Similarly the consensus among my friends who are around the same age as me confirmed my thoughts, that it's far too mature a scent for me, as well as agreeing that the scent it gives off to those around me is very different to the one on my skin. It's also worth noting that every male I asked hated it.

It is a strong scent. I only ever use 2 sprays of any perfume; either 2 sprays into the air in front of me before walking through it, or one on each wrist, and even so I find this one is quite overpowering. I was right in thinking it would give me a headache as it does within only about half an hour. Because of it's potency I wouldn't recommend it as a daytime perfume, certainly it should be kept for evening wear, where it would feel less out of place.

The quality of the fragrance does show through in it's staying power. As I mentioned previously the scent lingers in my bedroom after I've used it, and actually the room still stinks of it over 10 hours later. On my skin it lasts around 8 hours, and the scent that surrounds me can last well until the next day after applying it, so it's certainly worth the money in that respect.

=== The Conclusion ===

I've been left a bit confused by this perfume if I'm honest. Never before have I come across a scent that smells completely different in the air to on the skin, and unfortunately it is the scent in the air that people notice and in this case is not a pleasant one. I would definitely not recommend it to anyone under the age of 40 as it is simply too mature and smells out of place on the younger woman. As you've most likely guessed by now I will not continue to use it, and wouldn't recommend it unless the scent you go for is that of 'old woman with no sense of smell'.

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Product Details

Inspired by the elegance and eternity of a little black dress, the perfume exudes Parisian chic and gracefulness / It opens with playful and sparkling aromas of black cherry, bergamot, red berries and almond / Bulgarian and Turkish roses rule the heart, further developing with notes of licorice and smoked black tea / Aniseed, tonka bean, vanilla, iris and patchouli form the base.